Transfer of Parole

Interstate

Prisoners on parole who wish to permanently reside in another state or territory, may apply to relocate while continuing to serve parole. Western Australian parolees may apply to transfer their parole order to any other state or territory just as parolees in other states and territories may also apply to transfer their parole orders to Western Australia. Parole Orders (Transfers) Act 1984 (WA).

Eligibility

If a prisoner has no accommodation options in Western Australia, they may still apply for interstate transfer. Transfer applications must be made through a Community Corrections Officer who will provide the application to the Minister's Delegate for Interstate Transfers of Parole.

Applications must secure the approval of both the state or territory in which the applicant currently resides and the state or territory the applicant wishes to relocate to.

Criteria

Applicants must meet the following criteria in order to seek an interstate transfer:

have no outstanding appeals in relation to the sentence they wish to transfer;

have no outstanding breach action in relation to the sentence they wish to transfer; and

comply with any parole transfer rules set by the jurisdiction they want to go to.

Information on the rules of a particular state or territory can be supplied by a community corrections officer.

Application process

There are three steps in the interstate transfer of parole process:

application

approval

registration

All applications for interstate transfer of parole, both into and out of Western Australia, are dealt with by the Attorney General in a formal capacity known as the Minister's Delegate for Interstate Transfers of Parole.

If an application is approved, the applicant’s community corrections officer arranges a reporting date for the applicant in the new state or territory. Once the applicant has relocated and reported to their new community corrections officer, their parole order is registered in the new state or territory and the paroled prisoner becomes subject to all the parole and supervision requirements of the new location.

The parole system and supervision requirements in the new state or territory may be different.

Examples of possible differences include:

how often the applicant is required to report;

how often and the type of home visits the applicant will receive;

conditions of the applicant’s parole order;

programs the applicant will be required to attend;

the breach process and outcome of breach action; and

the possibility of the applicant’s supervision being extended.

In addition, if the applicant is a registered sex offender, their details will be transferred to the register of the state or territory they wish to transfer to.

In addition, if the applicant is a registered child sex offender, their details will remain on a national register administered by the police and while on parole will need to attend their new local police station in the new state or territory to advise that they have transferred interstate.

Once the applicant’s parole order is registered they cannot return to the state or territory from which they came without submitting a fresh application for interstate transfer of parole.

If an application is declined, the applicant is provided with the reasons for the decision.

What factors are taken into account when deciding on an interstate transfer of parole application?

By law, the primary consideration of the Minister’s Delegate when reviewing an interstate transfer of parole application is whether the interstate transfer is considered to be in the best interests of the applicant. The Minister's Delegate takes into account information such as support available to the applicant in the new location, employment prospects there and victim issues applicable in the new state.

Overseas

By law, prisoners with a minimum of six months of their sentence remaining can apply for transfer from an Australian prison to a prison in another country to serve their remaining sentence.

Alternatively a prisoner can apply for transfer while on parole; however this can only occur depending on the requirements of the country to which they seek to transfer. Not all foreign countries with which Australia has an agreement with allow prisoners on parole to transfer under the International Transfer of Prisoners Scheme.

The International Transfer of Prisoners Act1997 is a Commonwealth law so Western Australia’s Prisoners Review Board does not have a role in this process.